A quick question, was April 20th, 1963 a production day or an off day for the line. It was a Saturday.
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Re: 63 Production Day
There may not be an answer because in '63 the body build code was only the week of the month, not the day of the month, but considering that demand for the car was very high, I expect a lot of overtime was worked, and total '63 producton was up about fifty percent from '62 production. The plant did work two shifts during '63.
Duke -
Re: 63 Production Day
I forgot to add the following to my original question.
I have the paperwork the trailer driver used to deliver the car to the dealership. It contains option codes,dealer, zone, etc. Also on the form there is a preprinted heading DATE PRODUCED. Typed in the box is 4-20-63. Is this the day the car was produced (birthday) or the date the form was produced?
Thanks
Harry 38513Comment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Harry -
That piece of paper should be Copy #7 of the "Corvette Order", with the engine, transmission, axle, carburetor and key codes also manually typed in; the "Date Produced" is the date the car came off the end of the line. Next issue of the "Restorer" will have an article that describes where this document came from and how it was generated.Comment
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Re: 63 Production Day
John, The form is 6 1/4 by 7 inches. It has holes on each side for a printer. The form information at the top is CHEV 200M, (REV. 3/60). Then in large letters it says REGULAR COMMERCIAL and TRUCK. Then in red the number 5. Other preprinted headings are: ident no., dealer, town, C.O.P.O no,F. & S. O. no, dealer code, zone, order number, specifications and options nos,car serial no, key no, date produced, driver, row, spot, driver again, invoice no, loading doc. and haul away. At the bottom in red is 5. Dealer Copy.
I think this may be a different document? There is nothing about the carb.
Harry
38513Comment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Congratulations!!! Sounds like you have a copy of the production order. I figure only about one percent of old Corvettes still have any kind of original documentation, and the production order is the holy grail - the car's legitimate "birth cerfiticate" that shows it's true original configuration.
If you look toward the top of productiion order titled "Regular Production and Truck" you will see "exp date of production" that was produced by the printer when the production order was printed. In the lower right hand corner the "date produced" is actually typed onto the document.
You should send a copy of your documents to Al Grenning in New York. Al is the "unofficial" repository of original build documents and he does a lot of good research with the library of documents he has accumulated over the years.
The reason the Corvette production order is titled "Regular Production and Truck" is because St. Louis also had a light truck line in addition to Corvette. I can't recall off the top of my head if Corvette had their own production order form in '63, but if it did and they ran out, truck forms could be substituted. In later production years, Corvette definitely had their own production order form that was different from the truck form.
Al had a two part article on dealer and production order forms in The Corvette Restorer about a year ago, and you should definitely review these. He didn't use any examples from '63, but you can gain some insight into what you have by studying his explanations of the later documents.
My SWC had an expected date of production of March 22 and the actual build date was March 19, and I believe that was a Tuesday.
DukeComment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Duke,
The EXP DATE PROD is APR 26. The DATE PRODUCED box is 4-20-63. I now have a birthday. April 20, 1963 was a Saturday, the line must have been running.
Thank You
Harry
38513Comment
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Re: 63 Production Day
You definitely have the "5. Dealer Copy" of the '63 production order.
In the lower LH corner on the "car serial no" line my copy is printed:
J 087$ serial number.
The "J" is obscurred because it is overtyped on the preprinted "O." and the '$" might be a "S", but it looks diffent than the "S" in the serial number.
I don't know what these characters mean.
On the "Key No." line is printed:
XXXX F0302RE CJ
For security reasons I did not type the four digit key number. The next field is the Flint engine stamp, but I don't know what the "CJ" means, but it might be the production code for the close ratio four-speed.
What does you production order read in these fields (don't list your key number).
On my form "39" is hand written in the COPO box. Al thinks my car is a "COPO" because it was a plant delivery. I'm not convinced as the order was generated by a Chevrolet dealer, but the "39" might have had something to do with the plant delivery, and they just used the COPO box because it was a convenient place to write the number.
DukeComment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Duke,
The fields are: 3 087S, F0415RC, CB
COPO is 53.
The F0415RC matches my engine pad
The CB is for my rear.
Harry
38513Comment
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Re: 63 Production Day
3 087S it is, which could be decoded to mean a '63 Corvette (coupe or convertible) built at St. Louis.
I now see that the CJ corresponds to a 3.08:1 positraction axle, which my car has.
The dealer copy of the production order was not normally provided to retail customers at Chevrolet dealers, but apparently it was given to customers who picked up their new Corvettes at the plant. Do you know if your car was a plant delivery?
Maybe Al can figure out what those hand written numbers are in the COPO box.
DukeComment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Duke, best I can tell from the Owner Protection Plan it was delivered at a dealership in Hartford, Conn. (Capitol Motors Ins.). I spoke with the original owner and he did not mention a plant delivery. I have a call into him on another question, I will ask Him next week.
HarryComment
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Duke Pls Read
Duke,
Do you mind contacting me .... I have VIN #30837S111272 which to the best of my knowledge has a BD of 22 Mar 63. Think we might have numbers one or two apart. I wouldn't mind comparing notes.
DaveComment
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Re: 63 Production Day
Even if a vehicle is picked up at the plant, some paper work would have had to gone thru a dealer---somewhere. An Auto Manufacture cannot sell a vehicle directly to the public.
ArtComment
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